In the United States, many retail operations engaged in preparation and baking of pizzas desire to use cheese in a comminuted form. Consequently, producers of mozzarella and other cheese used on pizzas shred or dice block cheese for delivery to the pizza restaurants. To provide improved storage and keeping qualities, comminuted cheese for use on pizzas can be frozen and delivered in frozen or semi-frozen condition. However, the cheese must at least be thawed to the extent that the shreds or granules can be separated. Moreover, further thawing is needed to improve functionality.
The use of comminuted cheese in frozen or partially frozen condition on pizzas frequently results in baked products showing excessive browning and blistering. Not only is this appearance unattractive to the consumer, but the flavor and eating quality can also be adversely affected.
The recommended practice involves slow thawing of the frozen cheese. Where thawing is carried out during nonfreezing refrigerated storage, as is a common practice, a minimum of two to three days of thawing-holding is usually required. Moreover, the best practice involves holding of the granular cheese for four to five days, until thawing is completed.
Because of the problems associated with the use of frozen comminuted cheese for preparing pizza, certain franchised cheese restaurants require that the comminuted cheese be packaged non-frozen in specially designed packages. This adds considerably to packaging and distribution expenses, although it does avoid the necessity of slow thawing.
As far as is known, no one heretofore has produced frozen comminuted cheese which can be applied to pizzas in frozen or partially frozen condition and baked to produce a pizza product of as good quality as with fully thawed cheese. The high standards of appearance, quality, and taste for large scale pizza preparation have not been satisfied by the use of comminuted cheese which has not been completely thawed.
It has also been desired to modify the properties of granular cheese for use on pizzas and as toppings or ingredients in other baked food products. Such modifications include the incorporation of emulsifiers and flavor additives. Heretofore, however, no method or product has been provided in which such additives are provided as components of frozen comminuted cheese.